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About The independent. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 15, 1904)
AY WW fff. 4 Vol. XVI. LINCOLN, NEB., SEPTEMBER 15, 1904. . No. 17 THE JEFFER.SONOF 1904 " At a monster meeting in the Tab ernacle, Nashville, Tenn., on the 8th day of the present month, at which more than 2,000 people of every walk of life were present, Thomas E. Wat son, people's party candidate for presi dent, again delivered one of his mas terful addresses. Republicans and democrats of national ' prominence were mingled with the audience. Con spicuous among these were:, Sena tor W. B. Bate, Congressman John Wesley Gaines, John McMillin, Inter nal Revenue Collector John E. McCall, United States District Attorney A. M. .Tillman, Chairman of the State Re publican Executive Committee J. C. R. McCall and other men equally as well known in politics and affairs. The meeting was presided over by Hon. H. J. Mullens. Mr. Watson's address follows in full: '''.- Fellow Citizens: For' the first time since . the civil war, a national party has dared to nominate upon its presi dential ticket a man south of Mason and Dixon's line. In this campaign that southern man, who is proud to say he is a southern man, in blood and. in sentiment, is the only candi date who stands upon a platform of Jeffersonian, Jacksonian democracy. Applause.) And yet, almost without exception, those politicians and edi tors of the south, who claim to have in their peculiar keeping the , word "democracy" are doing their utmost to misrepresent the candidate, and to grind him down into the mire of de feat. Isn't that a singular situation? if the candidate really be a southern man, if he really stands upon demo cratic principles, has he no right to sympathy and support 'among his own people of "the south? j Tonight I beg you to listen to me patiently, while I endeavor to appeal not to your passions, not to your sym pathy, but to your reason to your judgment. It doe3 seem to me that it is high time that the average man of the south should do some of his own thinking, and should-act for himself according to his own ' light, and not forever obey the crack of the party .whip. (A) i-iause.) . Your ballot! What is it? I wonder sometimes if American; manhood stops to think what the ballot really repre sents, and what it is. In the first place it represents the triumph which cham pions of popular- liberty won from ty , ranny in the- years that are gone. The time was when this race of white peo ple had no such thing as free speech, tad no ?uch thing as freedom of the pen, had no such thing as freedom of conscience, had no such thing as free dom of the ballot. How did the race get it? By following the lead of those fcrave pioneers who unfurled the stan dard of revolt against existing op pression, against existing tyranny, whether of king or class, and. conse crated to the purpose of lifting the common mass of humanity up upon a higher plane of civilization, demanded for the people the right to vote for themselves. (Applause,) Therefore the ballot the ballot is the trophy the evidence of Victory which the re former won in the years that are gone; and many a brave manjost his life lost his life at the headman's block, or on the battleflelJf.beft)t(sHnat piece of , paper came inter tWhands (iff Hie white race. (Applause.) ' Not only is It a souvenir and sacred heirloom of the years that are gone reminding; m forver of the groat reformers of the while race who have stood the stress and the storm, and mad the fight for the- riRhts of the common people. Not only that, but it Is, after you have got It, the weapon, th blood I cms weapon with which you defend hdme and flre ftlde. wife and (hil l, 41M1jr and lire from the opprew-lvennji of fOse who mkht. If their emma hmm were Kiibmlitid to. drive yu't buck again Into u condition vt flat rrrvltnde. Internal vigilant bdng h prfc of liberty. tlit to whhh yon Miall put that wraiMin-th;i? Mood!; wcuinmi by which civil liberty l to b U-pt afur It In won that wi'stttou with aU!4 lKllatnt Mii)iM be ut"d wherever your HbctH-r are at Male, ant In mul a way to prerve tho Mcre-,1 feerUa of the past. (Applause.) I hop to (Jod that every man who tikes hit ta!!ot on the 8th day of N vember to cast it. will remember that "through this piece of paper speaks to me the heroes of the ages that are gone; through this piece of paper speaks to me the human race in its struggles for liberty; with this piece of paper I either lose something of what was handed down to me, or I add to the sacred treasures of liberty which ought to be carried on for fu ture generations." (Applause.) , Now, it may be that society will some day evolve a condition in which the independent voter will accomplish his ends by simply casting his inde pendent ballot.- It is sufficient to say that we have not reached that stage yet. . Nothing can be accomplished now without i'aoization. In politics organizationym ,ns a-political.'' party. What is apolitical party Che com ing together ofv a body .of men who have the same convictions, the same purpose, and who wish to unite their hand3 and hearts and mind3, so that the strength of all may be combined tocarry out that common purpose. (Applause.) - That is a political party. And with your ballot in your hand you march, citizen of the south, march, citizen of Tennessee, with that party which represents your convic tions. Otherwise you have done vio lence to your conscience and to those convictions that ought to be as sacred to you as life. (Applause.) If I were a republican on' principle if I believed in the declared and prac ticed principles of the republican par ty I should not hesitate a moment how to vote. If that platform represented me; if my convictions spoke there;' if my purposes were embodied there, I would not hesitate a moment; I would go fearlessly, and march with the ranks of the republican party, and fol low Theodore Roosevelt to the very death. Why?, Why? Because he would be my standard bearer. , He would be my representative. He would be wanting to do what I would want to do. His purpose would be my pur pose. His hope would be my hope. His party would be my, party. And, it being a free . country, I wouldn't hesitate to 4 ell any man "Roosevelt stands for me, and I will stand for Roosevelt." That is right. That is common sense. That's courage. That's manliness. That puts the hypocrite ' to shame. (Applause.) ' But, with the convictions which I hold, Roosevelt represents . the thing that I would fight from morning to night every opportunity I got, every day of my life from now until the folding of the hands across my breast. (Great applause.) He stands for those things that I detest. He stands for those principles which, in my judgment, are subverting our republic and making it a sordid despotism of wealth. He stands for that governmental policy which puts the dollar above the man which.puts the corporation above the people, which puts the few above the many, which puts the dass above the mass. And, believing that way about it, I would blow my brains out before I would contribute to the success of re publican principles. (Great applause.) But if I believed in the republican principles I could not vote for Judge Parker, although he comes so close to the republican platform (laughter and applause) I see no reason why those tvi) eggs might not have been taken out of the same nest. (Laughter.) To me they are two drinks out of the same jug. (Laughter.) And If I could get drunk enough to vote fur .Parker, I think I might take one more drink J Hat a little one. and vote for the other twin. (Iouightcr.) l.et'si see about that! I would votu always for the Kn uluo. or iginal, Simon-pure at tide. If that wa.i -ltu iktkle I wanted, i woulu't want-an notation. (l.auxhter.) I wouldn't want u ropyJ, would want a he uruwul. lAppUu.) 1 dun t raltlut 4'ouuiettVU dollar; rwiuit thy 1 1 al Tillui 3. I Laughter) I Vin t want the "Just an good; I aut p. ral thine" (Latijihter.) lWaine (he "jua lt" la alwajsi a liar an t a hypocrite. (.vVla) Well, nnw, let N Mf It onght rft to be a matter of mere mateinent. It iut to t a matter f demonstration. I promised to a I Ires i yod J tlgfcat and your reason, not your sympathy, not your passion. Let us see it I can demonstrate that. You are told in the south not to vote for Roosevelt, because ho is for republican principles. You arc told to vote for Partter. And yet Mr. Par'rer in liis speech of ' acceptance' has 'no wher had the manhood to.' tell you wherein lie differs from Jloosevelt on a single material issue. (Cheers.) Now that is true. Don't tell me any thing about your platform, because, for instance, in the tariff plank, you start in with "All protection is a robbery;" a nd before you get through, you don't know whether you are for tariff for revenue only, or high protection. You must take your platform construed by your candidate. In other words, 1i3--cjmtrmi4bn of the platform is of ficial is- rnnding, is conclusive. Not this stump speaker; not that stump speaker is responsible. Not this edi tor; not that editor; but the man who wants to get your votes; the man who is the official spokesman of his party; the man who is the standard bearer of .' national democracy his word is conclusive. , Now, let us take Judge Parker's acceptation speech, and find, if wecan, where the difference is between him and Theodore Roosevelt. Is it on im perialism. Oh, how this country did ring with .imperialism! WTe went to bed frightened at- it; and we got up next morning surprised that It hadn't captured U3 and carried us off. Im perialism! - Terrible things were going to rise up out of the islands of the sea and come in upon us and-devour us. Mind you, I wish to God that our government never had meddled with a single one of the Islands in those dis tant seas. (Cheers.) But when I re member that the treaty of Paris was concluded at the urgent personal soli citation of. W.- J. Bryan himself, it looks to; ine like both, the parties are committed to the proposition that the holding of the Philippines was a good thing to do. or, at least a necessary evil. Both are committed to It. Now, having-got them, what are you going to do with them? Roosevelt says, "We will give, them self-government when ever they are prepared for lf'That's the substance of it He doesn't set th time, the peace, or the manner. Judge Parker, in his speech of acceptance, says, "When they are ready for self government we will give it to them." (Laughter.) There you've got it. But whether the Filipinos will get it ma- Lterially in advance of Gabriel's trum pet, would be a hard thing to say. My own opinion is that the islands will get their independence when the demo cratic and republican capitalists ex ploiting them will get ready for it, and not before. (Cheers.) Upon imper ialism there is no difference that you can figure out in plain English be tween the acceptance of Roosevelt and the acceptance of Judge Parker. Now, let us take up something else. What about the trusts? The trusts! Mr. Roosevelt says there are legal and illegal trusts; good and bad trusts; criminal and non-criminal trusts; and that the criminal trusts must be prose cuted and punished, a list of them not being handed in at the time. (Ap plause.) - The democratic platform declared that we needed now legislation against the trusts. Judge Parker, In his speech of acceptance said; "No, we don't need any new legislation; the law as it stand la good enough; all you have got to do la to carry It out." Against whom? When? And how? Judge Parker upon that subject Is gloriously indefinite, and furnishes no bill of par ticular?!. Therefore on the subject of the trusts there U absolutely no dlf fennre that yon can Ktate In plain KiiKlifili. h that the common man can tin b'V tanvl what It I. wA'i " tariff- Oh. what a 't' v i V'V In1 tariff I dur- id iiM"M-afi;ku.ni: lionwry or ine pMir p-op!! U'h mrh a wonder thnt tli. poor txopte have no many Mends th d.iy In-fore ebcilon; and jt ih uer can k tliat tariff rnted. Thf dMK ratio platform ay tb tariff tnu 4 be revh.,, that all protection ! a robbery. Mr, Rooeve!t. la his Npeoch of acceptance. .n that the tariff ahmiU be rev bed from time to time, without saying What is-the .time (laughter) and in what respect the re vision should be made. Gloriously in definite! The English language has suffered more this year in being used to keep people from saying anything than ever before. (Applaune.) Shakes peare used it to say thing3; Milton used it to say things; Byron used It to say things; Burke, Chatham, O'Con nell, Grattan, PatrUk Henry, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson they all used It to say things. Now it is tved to cover up things and hide things. (Applause.) -' Judge Parker says the tariff ought to be revised, without saying whose toes shall be trod on because it is largely a question of whose toes you are going to tread on, you know. When you are going to revise the tariff, you are treading on somebody's corns im mediately. Now, whose corns are you going to tread on? Judge Parker does not state. He says in advance, "I won't have that office but four years, even if you give it to mo; and in four years I won't be able to do any thing to the tariff." Therefore he sur renders in advance, almost before the line of batUe Is. formed, Heruns up the white flag on the tariff question,, and absolutely surrenders to the re-' publicans. (Applause.) Let us see what else now. I think there was a question of national banks that figured. very much in the demo-' cratic campaign books which I have got here. The democratic party went back to the Jacksonian and Jefferson ian doctrine that national banks were of deadly hostility to republican gov ernment, and that they must be abol- ' ished; and that the government must take back, to itself the sovereign power to create money and to issue U to the people.. .Where is that platform now? Where Is that declaration now? It has been dropped. Roosevelt in favor of national bankaj Parker in favor of national banks! There they are like two black-eyed peas on the question of national banks. , . , Take the income tax. Jeffersonian democracy! The taxes should be laid upon the rich, but the necessaries of life should go untaxed, to the end that the poverty of the country should not be burdened with the expense of gov ernment, but that the wealth of the country should be burdened with tho government. Isn't that right? That is good democracy. Therefore Jeffer son said. "Put an Income tax, not on the . poor farmer's farm, which - may not produce any income; not on the merchant's store that perhaps is bank-' rupting him; not upon this avocation, and that, where possibly money is be ing lost; but put it upon the net in come; put it on the profits." Don't take a part of the milk. Take a part of the cream. Take a part of the net profits, and as the net profits grow larger, let the tax grow larger and larger by geometrical progression. Graduate it according to -the size of the income, and when the income swells enormously, let the tax swell in proportion, so a3 to put back into the general fund where all can get a chance to obtain their share of it, that overplus which greedy fellow has got more than his share, (applause.) Back there in those campaign books the great democratic party returned to the principles of Jefferson on the In come tax. Where is It now? It Isn't in the platform. Mr. Roosevelt is against the income tax, and Judge Parker is against the Jncom tat. They are there: a noble pair of broth era fighting the baMleH of the rich against the poor. (Cheers.) There was another question, the mouey question, and the democratic campaign book of ! ald It was the bkstt of all the questions para mount In Importance hrad and shout iU'rn, llk Saul, abovo all If fellows in political Uxuo. They declared that they would. lIKe Washington In 1778, tUht ihh Mrlthh policy, and a..acrt thw rh'hH of America to maintain th coiiitihiHoital currency which our fa Ih -t l nd framed, and whlt li we had sworn to Mipport, And they nal I. 'SV are mt only cpp to lh British i,o( standard; but wp are unalterably opposed to tt." ''No matter what eh w may change, we won't change on thli. No nutter what wo may (all